Is there an official word, or at least some confirmation other than from a dealership, that the March changeover will be called a 2011? Recall that for the E46, the March '03 LCI M3 retained the '03 designation, while the 3 series ci/cic changed to an '04. While that may have led to some confusion, it seems like having an '11 e92/3 M3 next to a '10 e90 M3 would be even more confusing. This is partly why I had thought they might just leave everthing a '10 this time around. Maybe they will call everything an '11 (incl e90s) instead?

I don't necessarily disagree with anyone's opinion, but if Surf's primary concern is a possible price increase, what happens if he does wait, the price does increase significantly (yes, I know this is relative) or if he doesn't like the LCI updates, then is he stuck having to purchase a now used 2010, or more correctly, one that is not his own build/specs? Tough call I think.

If the resale value of a 2011 is better than a 2010 then surely that of a 2012 will be even better. Based on that premise you should wait at least another year. At some point you have to get the car to actually enjoy it.

As for the LCI/MY switch, sure there will be some changes but at this point it looks like rear tail lamps (but not the front head lamps the regular E92s will get because that would necessitate a new M3 bumper) and some possible but unspecified interior tweaks, one of which has already happened with the 2010s apparently. Oh, and I'll bet that in addition to a price blip (50% chance) there will be more decontenting, like maybe all the tools will go away if they haven't already (50% chance). Power or other real changes (not rims mind you) I'd give only a very marginal chance at this point. Competition package aka E46? Maybe but more likely in MY 2012 as part of the wrap up model year for E9x M3s.

The price will probably not go down. The Euro has appreciated significantly against the U.S. Dollar. At ~1.50 EUR/USD, BMW gets less Euros per car they sell in the U.S. than they did when the Euro was at ~1.25 EUR/USD, cutting their margins if they sell for the same U.S. Dollar MSRP. I think there is a larger likelihood that the price will go up.

That said, I would absolutely wait a couple extra months for the LED lights and other potential updates.

I agree - I seriously doubt the 2011's will start production in March - that would leave a very short 2010 production run, wouldn't it?

The fact that the LCI is coming in March is all but 100% confirmed. Let's just say that you would not want to bet against it. So the cars coming in March willl indeed be different than those produced from September 2009 up til March 2010.

What is not clear - at least from what I have found so far - is what the model years are going to be. As I said above, for the E46 LCI, the M3 stayed an '03 while the 3 series became an '04. Most cite the fact that the M3 exterior changes were minor compared to the 3 series exterior changes as the reason for the discrepancy. Since the same thing holds this time as far as exterior changes, its not immediately obvious to me that they won't do the same thing with the model years. The main difference this time around is that there is an M3 sedan. However, with the E46 there was obviously still coupe/convertible and sedan/wagon, and that did not stop them from changing the model year on the former for the LCI while leaving the model year on the latter the same (since those already had its LCI prior, just like the E90/E91 did this time as well).

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A gen-u-ine BMW eff-eight-zero with them tandem clutches in the transmission and that dad gum sun roof on the top-a da cawr.

It will be MY2011 + LCI for any delivery after 4/15. The new production would start in March but the 1st car won't be delivered in March.

I understand it seems a bit early to come out with MY2011 and people are suspecting a 2010.5. There are notices that tell the dealers 12/x (don't remember the exact date) is the last date to order MY2010 and all 2010 deliveries is 4/14. You can probably assume the MY2011 will cost more as I suspect there won't be any incentives so soon, but you never know. There's no hard pricing info on the MY2011 yet. We will get the pricing info in Feb or March. Like others mentioned, the MY2011 will probably increase your resale by $5k...

There are more info regarding this issue on bimmerfest. The words came from not one dealer but other dealers' ED specialists. I am having my ED pre-reserved for May delivery and the ED specialist said it won't be ordered until Feb/March. Hope this helps.

If the resale value of a 2011 is better than a 2010 then surely that of a 2012 will be even better. Based on that premise you should wait at least another year. At some point you have to get the car to actually enjoy it.

Just my worthless opinions.

Umm, the 2011 is coming in March-production, so in my opinion it pays to wait the 3 months -- and in many cases nobody's racing their M3's around in the wintertime anyways. But of course to each his own.